Creating a character that is realistic and believable is one of the most important parts of novel or novel series. Without a realistic character, your novel will not come together as well as it should. Introducing a character takes finesse. Dumping a list of traits on your readers is not good character development. Throughout the story it is important that you weave details about the characters without bringing the plot to a halt. Traits can be linked to behaviors. Showing actions with your characters will allow the reader to see the traits without you telling the reader the trait you are looking to portray. There are steps to achieving a proper character development.

First, organization is important when you are creating character profiles. You will need to organize the materials you are using for the characters you are creating. When you are creating a short story, this step may not be necessary, but when you are creating a novel and a series of novels you will have to reference profiles often. Being prepared will allow your characters to become more realistic, because you can be consistent with even the smallest details. For instance, if the character had brown hair in one book, you do not want him or her to have sandy blonde hair in another book. Your readers will spot the inconsistency in your character. It will take a bit of work to create your character before diving into your plot, but keeping consistent will allow the writing process to flow better.

Your personality comes into play when you are organizing your character profiles. You could be a person who likes physical documents, such as file folders, note cards, or post-its. This will allow you to move things around for a different combination of things. You may prefer to keep everything on your computer. This allows you to open documents in addition to the manuscript. You can keep the profiles as detailed as you need them to be, but keep the organization of these profiles simple. You do not want to be stressed out when you are looking for the profiles, because it can cause you not to make progress in your books.

Secondly, you will need to begin to develop your characters traits and backgrounds. Each character that appears in your novels should have a list of general traits and a background that can be worked into the story. You can make a list of traits. The physical attributes can consist of eye color, hair color, height, weight, and body type. The Demographics should consist of age, birth order, place of birth, and income level. The personality type and other related traits should consist of whether the character is an extrovert or introvert, is organized or disorganized, driven or relaxed, and any other aspect that may be important to the story you plan to write. For example, if you are writing a sci-fi/fantasy novel, then there will need to be more details added that characters in other genres may not need. The dominant traits of your character should have range. What is the strong trait in one part of the story should be the weak trait in another part of the story.

Psychology plays a part in how you turn out in life. You could have a twin that is the complete opposite of you, even though you have both had the same upbringing. Your personal choices and beliefs will shape who you are as a person. This same holds true for your characters. You will have to put some thought into what makes your character special and different. What traits your character has will allow him or her to overcome conflicts and obstacles he or she may encounter within your plot.

If you can draw or know someone who can, you can create a sketch of your character to include with the profiles for your own use. You can also use magazine clips or internet images. These can help you to visualize and understand your characters better.

Thirdly, when you are ready to begin your story you must determine where you are going to need extra research. Your characters may have different experiences and careers from what you have had. This will require some research. Your knowledgeable readers will notice the inconsistency in the details of the profession or experience. This will cause them to put the book down and not continue reading. It is hard to bring these readers back to your story. You will need to take notes on the areas that you will need to research, so your character will be more believable to those readers.

Fourthly, there will be a connection between your characters and books; you will need to be able to recognize it. Ideas will surface about your characters as you are writing your books that were not there while you were profiling your characters. This is a normal part of the process. Keeping your profiles in a format that is easily edited and manipulated is very important. When you have decided to write a novel series, the characters profiles will grow larger in time. Keeping the profiles separate will save you the trouble of going through different books to ensure that you have the right traits for each character.

Fifthly, save your character profiles for future use, even after your story has been completed. There are times that you may know more about your characters than you will reveal to your readers. Using these characters profiles is great for marketing your books. You can reveal more on sites that allow author’s to provide extra tidbits about the characters in books.

Saving the profiles can also help if and when your book is adapted into a movie format. The detailed material you have gathered will help the actor or actress get to know your character better and portray him or her to the readers liking.